Post-Cold War Champions 2016

Welcome to New Light! Let us help you find your purpose!

22

MAR/16

Rebecca had checked Google Street View and the building where the meeting was being held was in West Hollywood and had a “Contact Jerry for Leasing Info” on the window. When Uber drops her off and she enters the lobby, half the building appears to be unoccupied assuming the directory is current. Kinetic is on the roof of the building across the street watching, while Skyrocket is a few hundred feet away on the other side of the building waiting and watching the rear entrance.

Rebecca takes the elevator up to the 5th floor to suite 520. There are no signs on the door so she slowly opens the door. There are five young people sitting on folding chairs in a semi-circle in front of an older woman with graying hair. There are two empty chairs. The conversation ends as she enters and they all greet her warmly. The older woman introduces herself as Lilith and the others introduce themselves in turn. Caitlyn and Dylan are both wearing necklaces with the emblem. Lilith is as well though hers looks older and handmade.

Caitlyn (healer – nurse. Has been coming for some time and is very excited to be here today. She really looks forward to these meetings!!11)

Dylan (martial artist – student. Has been coming as long as Caitlyn. Has gone the vigilante route at nights. Very happy to be here today.)

Harlan (Emotion Control – Salesperson. Has been coming for a week or two and is trying really hard not to use his powers to convince people to buy things they don’t need.)

Zoe (Images – Artist. Has only been coming a few weeks and doesn’t know what she could do with her gifts.)

Emily (is not ready to talk and no one pressures her to)

To Rebecca, Lilith appears to be anywhere between 40 and 60. After the new recruits finish their tales, Lilith does most of the talking and tends to ramble a bit. What Rebecca does find interesting is hearing: 1) Ruth’s last name (Whitecliff), 2) 1993 being the year that the original group founded by Ruth’s mentor and leader, David, was torn apart by the government, and that 3) in 2003, Ruth decided to continue following the path started by David but to be more welcoming. Lilith also mentions that she hopes to one day be able to start her own group and help Ruth’s teachings spread more quickly to the growing number of Quantums, many of whom desperately need guidance.

As Lilith prepares to end the meeting, Caitlyn and Dylan quickly get up and stand before Lilith. She takes their hands and says something quietly to each of them and then does the same for Harlan and Zoe. Rebecca notices that Lilith is visibly tired after these 4 brief interactions, but each of them are very excited to “get out there and help the people of the city.” Emily declines – she is not comfortable with what’s happening here – but is polite about it. Rebecca hesitates a moment, but approaches Lilith. Slight retcon incoming! Lilith takes both of Rebecca’s hands and says, “Take this gift only of your own free will.” She smiles and tells Rebecca that until midnight tonight, Rebecca can use the power Lilith has granted her – she need only think about her body being protected from physical harm and will a small bit of her energy into it to become even more resistant to physical harm than she already is. After that, she tells everyone where next Monday’s meeting will take place and leaves.

Emily waits a few minutes then leaves the room. Caitlyn and Dylan ask whether anyone would like to join them as they patrol the city tonight. Zoe and Harlan say they’re not quite ready to go out with two much more experienced people, but plan on going somewhere a bit more remote and trying out Lilith’s gift. Rebecca contacts Kinetic and Skyrocket and lets them know what’s happening. She decides to follow Emily and talk to her. Emily agrees to talk to her at a nearby coffee shop. Emily is no more forthcoming about her abilities, but says she doesn’t really trust Lilith or New Light in general. She says that both Caitlyn and Dylan talk and act like junkies – Emily has known more than her share over the years and it’s all too familiar. She’s heard them both say that they try to meet Lilith in between the Monday meetings – at least once and more if they can. She’s never met Ruth, but Lilith creeps her out despite how nice she seems so there’s no way she’s coming back again.

Kinetic sees the two wanna-be vigilantes appear on the roof of the building, put on their masks, then part ways. Dylan uses his Parkour! skills to makes his way down to the street and start his patrol; he spends hours patrolling the streets and rooftops but finds nothing. He doesn’t even give his audience the satisfaction of leaping into a wall before giving up and getting his bag from the roof of the building.

Skyrocket follows Caitlyn, who had floated down to the street and is now using her healing abilities on the homeless and injured people living on the streets. He sees her regrowing the limbs of amputees! He decides to land so he can talk to her. She recognizes him, and after the initial surprise talks to him a bit about her powers and how she is trying to help. She mentions that she’s been coming to the meetings for a while and both she and Dylan have grown very attached to Lilith. Sometimes, they contact her and meet with her between Monday meetings so they can continue their work. She feels much safer coming out here by herself knowing she can draw on Lilith’s protective power as she has almost no defensive abilities of her own. Skyrocket gives her his card and tells her to contact him should she ever need anything.

The PCs head back to their respective homes to try their Google-fu. Rebecca almost gives up but remembers there’s more than one page of results and finds a Wikipedia entry that catches her eye. The Waco siege took place in 1993 and involved David Koresh (formerly Vernon Howell) and a Ruth Whitecliff. According to the entry, David was suspected of being an SPB, but no one could confirm it. Ruth was one of the few people known to have escaped the raid unscathed though her husband was killed. She supposedly witnessed another member kill David before turning the gun on himself, though she refused to discuss it with investigators or the FBI. She was convicted on firearms charges, but released early after the Supreme Court reversed an earlier decision. The Wikipedia page references “New Light” as an audio tape David had released stating he was to start a “House of David” of his “special people”.